MsgBox does not come to foreground

[Heike]

There is an application that calls an EXE that I developped in VB.NET

This EXE opens a word application:

 

objWordInstance = GetObject(, "Word.Application")

If objWordInstance Is Nothing Then
   objWordInstance = CreateObject("Word.Application")
End If

After that I try to show a MessageBox but it is always hidden behind my word application. Any idea what to do?

[Cywizz]

Hi

 

One of the overloaded parameters in the Messagebox.show method, takes in a 'owner' parameter of type: IWin32Window.

This will render the messagebox infront of this specified window (Your word doc)

 

You will need to get the Handle on this window from your exe to be used by your messagebox.

 

Cheers

[Heike]

OK. But how can I get the handle of my word app?

[quwiltw]

Admittedly wild guess, you might try the ActiveWindow property?

as in,

objWordInstance.ActiveWindow

[Heike]

Good idea but unfortunately it only leads to "Specified cast is not valid".

[Cywizz]

Heike

 

You can check, while debugging if the ActiveWindow property implement IWin32Window (You can use the command window)

 

But, I've got another solution:

 

// Stephen Toub
// [email]stoub@microsoft.com[/email]
//
// ActiveWindow.cs v1.0.0
// 8/28/02
//
// Implements IWin32Window where Handle returns the handle of the system's foreground window.
// Can be used with MessageBox to display the box in front of the active window, such as:
//		MessageBox.Show(ActiveWindow.Active, "Hello, World!");

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace Toub.Windows.Forms
{
/// <summary>Used to get an IWin32Window for the active window.</summary>
public class ActiveWindow : IWin32Window
{
	#region Private Members
	/// <summary>Static instance to use for factory pattern.</summary>
	private static ActiveWindow _window = new ActiveWindow();
	#endregion

	#region Construction
	/// <summary>Prevent external instantiation.</summary>
	private ActiveWindow() {}
	#endregion

	#region Public Properties
	/// <summary>Gets an IWin32Window for the active window.</summary>
	public static IWin32Window Active { get { return _window; } }
	#endregion

	#region Private Functions
	/// <summary>Finds the frontmost window using the Win32 API.</summary>
	[DllImport("user32.dll")]
	private static extern int GetForegroundWindow();

	/// <summary>Gets a handle to the active window.</summary>
	System.IntPtr IWin32Window.Handle
	{
		get { return new System.IntPtr(GetForegroundWindow()); }
	}
	#endregion
}
}

 

above is a class sample, downloaded of gotdotnet site. It will get the IWin32Window object by using a API.

 

It's in C# but I'm sure you'll get the idea..:)

Let me know if you must have the vb version

 

Cheers

[Heike]

Indeed, I'm getting the idea but don't know exactly what to do. I copied the source and tried to convert it to vb but the first error I get is "classes can inherit only from other classes".

 

Therefore I would be obliged if you could give me a vb version.

 

Thanks

[Cywizz]

short and sweet..... :

 

Imports System
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices

Public Class ActiveWindow
   Implements IWin32Window

   Private Sub New()

   End Sub

   Private Declare Function GetForegroundWindow Lib "user32.dll" () As Integer

   Private Shared _window As ActiveWindow = New ActiveWindow()

   Public Shared ReadOnly Property Active() As IWin32Window
       Get
           Return _window
       End Get
   End Property


   Public ReadOnly Property Handle() As IntPtr Implements System.Windows.Forms.IWin32Window.Handle
       Get
           Return New System.IntPtr(GetForegroundWindow())
       End Get
   End Property
End Class

 

Cheers

[Heike]

Thank you very much.

I only made one try, yet, but it seems to work.

I will test it more intensely but I'm sure my problem will be solved.